1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to a computer based re-work component analysis system to identify appropriate components to be used in the re-work shop orders once defective components are identified for replacement. The process includes steps for identifying replacement components after determining the engineering change (EC) level, alternate components, if any, and the location of the components for availability.
2. Description of the Prior Art
The process of designing, developing and manufacturing a new product, or making major changes to existing products, presents many challenges to product managers and manufacturing managers to bring a product to market for the least cost, within schedule, while maintaining product quality. In today's highly competitive industries, product managers and manufacturing managers require information to address many problems that arise because of the complexity of new products and the complexity of world-wide production and the changing nature of competition. The requirement that products be manufactured for the least possible cost is important in all industries. Of all costs associated with selling products and services, none is more important than the cost of customer service. When customers require items to be re-worked, or field returns, those orders require special attention and sometimes urgent attention to satisfy customer needs. As re-work orders are received from the customers for faulty components, they have to be first sorted for fault diagnosis through appropriate tests. Once the tests identify the cause of the defect, the appropriate replacement item needs to be defined. If the defective item needs to be changed, a search needs to be made as to the current EC (engineering change) level and the assigned part number, if different from the previous number. If an alternate part number has been assigned, those have to be identified. Once it is identified, the location and availability of the part has to be determined.
In a typical re-work shop order environment items that have failed inspection at the field location for any reason come to the manufacturing floor for correction and re-work. Upon arrival, items are tested for failures and any correction that needs to be made are identified.
Current planning systems such as COPICS.TM. (Communications Oriented Production Information and Control System) sold by IBM Corporation and similar systems marketed by MSA and Cullinet, for example, have the capability to allocate component inventory for use in re-work orders; however, these systems do not have the capability to identify replacement components based on engineering level determination. The user has to manually identify the revised engineering change number and identify the replacement component. Most often, the user on the shop floor is not aware of any engineering changes to the components that have take place. This may result in faulty or less effective components being replaced on the shop floor.
What is needed is a system that will automatically identify the replacement components based on current engineering change levels and identify the availability of replacement component(s) and their location. The automated system should also provide allocations based on availability and let the user know of the projected delivery date for start of re-work orders based on component/item ship leadtime. Planning systems such as IBM's COPICS.TM. product provide the capability for engineering change affectivity that identifies when an engineering change will need to be implemented. However, they do not have the capability to identify changed component number given the old component number. The production monitoring and control module within IBM's COPICS.TM. product provide the capability to determine the quantity of order completion. The physical capability of testing re-work orders and determining the defects in the re-work orders is considered as part of the manufacturing shop floor systems.